Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Whose Line Is It Anyway? (sometimes abbreviated to Whose Line?), is an improvisational comedy show. It was originally a British radio program, but later moved to television, first as a series made for Britain's Channel 4, and subsequently as another version made for American television.

The show consists of a panel of four performers and comedians who create characters, scenes and songs on the spot based on audience suggestions or pre-written prompts from the host. The show takes the form of a fake game show where the host arbitrarily assigns points and chooses a "winner" at the end of each episode.

History

Whose Line Is It Anyway? was created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson in 1988 as a radio show on BBC Radio 4."About the show", ABC website, last accessed March 14, 2006 They would later move the show to television on Channel 4 with little change in format. Both the British radio program and the British television series were hosted by Clive Anderson during their runs. One of the early North American broadcasters of the British series was the Canadian youth channel, YTV, though many episodes were edited for adult language and content.

Early episodes of the British television series were primarily shot within the UK. However, as time went on, it became increasingly common for the series to be filmed within the United States. These episodes in the British series were otherwise very similar in terms of presentation and personnel as the UK-shot shows.

The show was brought to the attention of American comedian Drew Carey, who worked with regular Whose Line? performer Ryan Stiles, a co-star on The Drew Carey Show. Carey convinced ABC to air test episodes in the United States. The show turned into an inexpensive hit, and ABC kept Carey on as the host of the American version, which would go on to run on ABC for six seasons. It benefited from the low expectations of its Thursday night time slot, as ABC was not expected to mount a serious challenge to what was then NBC's longtime Thursday dominance. While the network would regularly premiere two new episodes in one night, there were several occurrences in which some episodes were skipped or postponed until a later date due to the airing of other new shows or specials.

The American version was almost identical to the British series, though the rotation of games and the rotation of performers were both less diverse. There was also more involvement of the host in the activities and occasional celebrity guest appearances. During the early years of the American show, there was some debate over whether the new version was the same quality as the original British series. Eventually the show was accepted by fans, due to increasing familiarity with the new format, and the American version building its own fan base.

The last season of the British version in 1998, with Clive Anderson still hosting, was taped in the same Hollywood studio as the American version. This season was first broadcast only in the U.S. on the Comedy Central cable channel. Re-runs of the entire British TV series had been running on Comedy Central since the early 1990s, though there were some edits for content, as well as leaving games out and re-arranging the order of the games. The British series re-runs moved to BBC America in April 2006.

The American version was cancelled by ABC in 2003 because of low ratings, but continues as re-runs on the ABC Family cable channel; however, these proved so popular that ABC assembled new episodes from older tapings not considered to be good enough for previous runs, and these first-run episodes began airing on ABC Family in 2005. These are not to be confused with five new episodes ABC Family aired in early 2006, due to popular demand.

The show also provided the inspiration for Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, which premiered in 2004 on the WB.

Participants

The original BBC Radio 4 broadcasts consisted of host Clive Anderson along with two regulars, Stephen Fry and John Sessions, and two guests. Clive Anderson would stay on as the host when the show moved to British television on Channel 4 and the rotation of guests became more varied. Regular comedians from the British version included, as well as the radio regulars, a variety of British, American, and Canadian comedians, notably Josie Lawrence, Paul Merton, Tony Slattery, Ryan Stiles, Sandi Toksvig, Colin Mochrie, Mike McShane, Brad Sherwood, Stephen Frost, Niall Ashdown, Caroline Quentin, Chip Esten, Jim Sweeney, Steve Steen and Greg Proops. Sessions was ever-present in the early days of the British television version (and shared top billing with host Clive Anderson), with Stiles becoming a staple in later episodes. Many of the performers, including Merton, Lawrence, and Toksvig, were regulars with The Comedy Store Players, an improvisational group based at the London Comedy Store. The theme song for the British television incarnation of the show was composed by Philip Pope.

The American incarnation of the show included Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, and Ryan Stiles as regulars, with Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Brad Sherwood, Denny Siegel, Jeff Davis, Kathy Greenwood, Kathy Kinney and several others taking turns as the fourth performer. Celebrities sometimes took the fourth spot, including Robin Williams, Kathy Griffin, Stephen Colbert, and Whoopi Goldberg. Other celebrities made guest appearances for individual games, such as David Hasselhoff, Florence Henderson, Jerry Springer, and Richard Simmons. In one episode, comic legend Sid Caesar made an appearance, and the applause and standing ovation for Caesar was so long that much of it had to be cut from the broadcast. Mochrie, Proops, Stiles, Esten, Brady, and Sherwood all appeared multiple times on the British show.

Many of the sketches include music, and there have been a number of musicians during the run of the show. On the original BBC Radio series, the music was provided by Colin Sell, but when the show migrated to Channel 4, Richard Vranch (also of The Comedy Store Players) assumed the job of musician. Vranch did not move with the show to the U.S. In fact, during the final series of the British show, musician Laura Hall made her first appearance. She continued as musician in the first season of the U.S. show on her own, but in the second season and onwards, other musicians were added to "jazz up" that part of the show. Joining Laura Hall often was multi-talented musician Linda Taylor, and occasionally other musicians were added, such as Cece Worral-Rubin, Anne King, Candy Girard, and Anna Wanselius. The popular sketches "Greatest Hits", "Hoedown", "Irish Drinking Song", and "Song Styles" relied heavily on music.

Atmosphere

Though Whose Line? has all the trappings of a game show, it lacks the true competition and the stakes of a normal game show. The host's duties are similar to those of a host on a normal game show. It is his job to award the meaningless points and to arbitrarily choose the winner.

Each episode begins with the host welcoming the audience to the show and introducing the performers. The host will then introduce the first game (for more on the games, see below). After completion of a game, the host will assign points to the performers as he sees fit, and then introduce the next game. At the end of the show, the host will arbitrarily choose a winner(s). In the UK version, the winner(s) would read the credits in a style of the host's choosing. In the US version, the winner(s) would play a game with the host (Carey), or in some instances, sit at the host's desk while the host plays a game with the other performers.

There was one show of the American version where the points did matter. During this show, Drew wrote down totals on the back of a scene card, and the winner actually was the performer with the most points. Also, during another taping, which became two episodes, in lieu of points, Drew gave away $100 bills, some of which were tossed into the crowd. In another episode, the one-millionth point was awarded, and balloons and confetti rained down on Colin Mochrie, the winner.

Games

See List of games from Whose Line Is It Anyway? for a description of all games from the show.

The number and type of games played vary from episode to episode. The wide variety of games alone helps to ensure that no two episodes are the same; however, some games have become more common over time, possibly because of their popularity: "Helping Hands", "Hoedown", "Party Quirks", "Scenes from a Hat", and "Song Styles".

Several games take the style of "traditional" scenes, but have a twist to make the game less predictable. One of these games is Helping Hands. In this game, two performers act out a scene provided by the host; however, one of the performers cannot use their own hands, so a third performer stands behind the "handless" performer to provide their own hands.

There are also many games that require the performers to use their musical talents. In the game Hoedown, the performers each sing one of four stanzas in the style of a hoedown. The subject of the hoedown is usually provided from an audience suggestion. Another musical game is called Song Styles. In this game a performer will sing a song about an item or audience member in a style provided by the host. This style is either given as a genre, or as a particular musical artist.

There are also some guessing games. In these games, one performer must determine the identity of the other performers or of themselves. This style of game is seen in Party Quirks. In this game, three performers are guests of a party who behave strangely based on suggestions from an envelope. The fourth performer acts as the party's host and must identify the quirks provided to the others based on how they interact at the party. If their quirk is correctly guessed, the performer will leave the party.

Other game styles include rapid-fire games. These style of games require the competitors to provide quick scenes that are only one or two lines long. One of these games is Scenes from a Hat. In this game, the host will pull suggestions for scenes out of a hat. These suggestions are written out beforehand by audience members. In response to each suggestion, the performers will improvise a one or two line scene.

Differences between UK and US versions

While the American version of the show is based on the UK version, there are still several differences between the two shows. One that is noticed immediately is the opening of the show. The US version never had a traditional opening sequence, whereas the British version had a complete opening sequence which varied slightly over time. In early seasons, this sequence showed clips from the actual show. This later changed to show silhouetted actors performing scenes. The final opening sequence showed the scenes being acted out by figures made of lines.

Another difference comes in the amount of participation of both the host and the audience in the two versions. In the US version of the show, Drew Carey, the host, was much more active in the show. The performers interacted with Drew during certain games, more so than in the British version of the show. Several games also involved more audience involvement, most notably a new version of Sound Effects where audience members provided the sound effects for the performers.

The ending of the show also varies. In the British version, the winner(s) read the credits in a style of the host's choosing. The ending of the American version varied throughout the various seasons. Many episodes end with the winner(s) playing a game with Drew Carey. In the first season, the credits were not read at all. Later, this was changed so that one or more performers, independent of the winner(s), would read the credits in a manner chosen by the host.

Running gags

See List of running gags for a complete list of running gags from the show.

Running gags appear frequently in many episodes. Usually, the gags involve the participants and the host making fun of one another and themselves. Some running gags are confined to a single episode, in which notable jokes or mistakes from previous games are recalled in later games. There are also several running gags that span the show's entire television run.

Running gags in the British version of the show include jokes directed at the host, Clive Anderson, and particularly addressed his short neck or baldness. There was often joking between the American performers and Clive in relation to the different idioms between British and American English (e.g. "elevator" vs. "lift"). Greg Proops was often the instigator of these jokes. Stiles continued the "insulting the host" tradition on the American version, with Drew Carey being the target.

The American version of Whose Line? carried over many running gags from the British version, but also created many of its own, such as frequently placing Colin in the position of portraying a woman in sketches. With a less varied list of performers and games, a higher level of familiarity developed between the performers. This higher level of familiarity led to more running gags directed at the performers themselves. These jokes include frequent references to individual appearances, including Colin's baldness and vibrant shirts; Ryan's height, large nose, and wild shoes; and Drew's obesity and lack of having to do much in the show.

DVD Release

For several months, thousands of fans of the show wrote letters, e-mails, and postcards to Warner Bros asking for a DVD release. In January, 2006, the company announced that it would release the series on DVD.

In July 2006, it was announced that the first DVD of Whose Line? will be released on September 26th, 2006. It will be the first volume of the first season. There will be two DVDs released: A "family-friendly" DVD, which will contain the episodes as they were broadcast on ABC, and an uncensored DVD, which holds material more suitable for mature viewers that did not reach the air. Both releases will be made up of the first ten episodes of the first season, plus outtakes.^*

References

External links

Whose Line Is It Anyway? | של מי השורה הזאת בכלל? | Whose Line Is It Anyway? | Whose Line Is It Anyway? | Whose line is it anyway?

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